It was dark in the corridor as Lenalee and Lavi searched for Kanda. He hadn't been with the other Exorcists when they all burst into the Science Section. In fact, neither of them had seen Kanda for quite some time. Just as Lavi was beginning to think they'd never find him, Lenalee spoke.

"Why don't we just ask someone whether they know where he is?"

Lavi thought about this and mentally kicked himself for not thinking of that before.

"Yeah, we probably should have tried that first, rather than wandering aimlessly around the building."

"Probably." she said, with a smile.

"Back to the Science Section then?"

"I think that's the best idea."

By the time they'd reached the Science Section though, they were both having second thoughts. What had looked like the beginning of an argument when they left, sounded like it had turned into an all-out screaming match. Fortunately the door was closed, so the noise wasn't quite overwhelming, but still very uncomfortable. A few people had made their way out and were milling around in the hall with nothing to do. Crowley and Miranda seemed to be among this number and Lavi and Lenalee made their way over to them. Crowley noticed them first, breaking off his conversation with Miranda to wave them over. Miranda looked nervous, but happy to see them. Crowley was the first to speak.

"So, you managed to make it out as well?"

"More or less." said Lenalee, with a shrug. "We left before things started getting really heated in there."

"You were lucky then, Miranda and I barely managed to escape before people started screaming at each other." said Crowley, looking distinctly bedraggled.

"Is it really that bad in there?" asked Lavi.

"I afraid so, people are up in arms about Allen supposedly being a Noah, not to mention the Ark disappearing like that."

Lavi didn't find it hard to believe that the Order was already beginning to split into factions, it was exactly what he'd been worried about the moment he'd heard that Allen was the host for a Noah. The thing was, that while Allen was highly valued in the European Branch and part of the Asian Branch, the other Branches would be far more suspicious of him, as they had closer links to Central. Hell, even Crowley was showing an unconscious bias in the way he talked about it. Lavi could help but wonder whether pointing it out would make him change his tune.

"Why do you say "supposedly"?"

"Well, it's Central isn't it? No one really trusts them. And I think we would have noticed if Allen was a Noah."

Lavi pondered this. Crowley's opinion was hardly unique in the European Branch. You could tell just by walking through the new Headquarters how uncomfortable everyone felt about Central being there. He would need to keep an eye on that, as it could easily become much more serious very quickly, especially given the nature of Central. Then there was Crowley's attachment to Allen. He was clearly having trouble trying to reconcile his friend with a Noah. Although he himself was hardly one to talk, given he was trying to prove Allen innocent even as they spoke. All the while, Miranda had been looking more and more nervous as the conversation continued and now she interjected.

"It's the scientists from the other branches. They're suspicious of Allen and started arguing with our scientists. Then some of the other Exorcists joined in, and now…" she looked over at the door to the Science Section through which the sound of shouting hadn't at all quietened.

This didn't bode well for the future of the Order. Lavi had seen many wars break out, and he'd be damned if this situation didn't look like it was coming dangerously close to causing a fissure in the Order. But of course, that wasn't why they were there. Fortunately, Lenalee seemed to have the situation in hand.

"Actually we came here to ask you something." she said. "You wouldn't happen to have seen Kanda recently?"

Crowley and Miranda looked at each other in confusion.

"No, why do you ask?" questioned Crowley.

"I haven't seen Kanda all day." said Miranda.

"We just wondered where he was, seeing as he didn't come here with the rest of us when the Ark door closed."

"I'm afraid I have no idea." said Crowley.

Unfortunately that was what Lavi had been expecting. While Kanda was in no sense subtle, if he didn't want to be found then he wasn't going to be found. Still, it would be silly for them to give up there and then, so he indicated at Lenalee that they should go.

"That's alright, we'll just keep on looking. Tell us if you do come across him though." she said.

"Of course."

And with that he and Lenalee began to walk back to the main staircase. They looked everywhere they could think of, the Library, the Cafeteria, the Training Room, but still there was no trace of Kanda. They looked for him in his room, after having to ask about twelve different people where it was, only to find it empty, just like everywhere else.

"This is getting ridiculous." proclaimed Lenalee, after finding yet another room completely devoid of Kanda. "He can't have just disappeared."

"Maybe he's gone with Allen." joked Lavi. Despite the seriousness of the situation, their absences were remarkably similar.

"I doubt it."

It was just then, an idea stuck him. It perhaps wasn't a brilliant idea, but it might help them find Kanda. "You don't suppose he's gone outside do you?" he asked.

"Well, I don't see why he would." said Lenalee, giving him a suspicious glance.

"But the possibility is undeniably there." he pushed.

"I mean, I suppose…" she mumbled begrudgingly.

"Right. So, I propose we go up the the roof and see if we can get a good vantage point to spot him." he said, trying to get it past her quickly so she didn't have time to disagree. Lenalee seemed to be a master a spotting bad ideas though, because she immediately tried to shoot him down.

"That sounds unnecessarily dangerous." she said, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"Why? The roof is mostly flat and it won't be slippery from the rain anymore."

She seemed to falter a bit at this reasoning, before apparently coming to a conclusion.

"Well, I don't suppose we have many other options at this point."

Lavi noticed a distinct sigh in her voice, and had to bite back a sarcastic retort.

"Exactly, so let's get moving."

He hurried up the staircase and Lenalee followed, still sighing to herself. Soon they came out onto the roof. It was strangely silent. In contrast to the rest of the building, which was bustling with people after everything that had happened, the rooftop seemed almost to be a separate world. The sun was high in the sky, illuminating the water below. Everything was bathed in light, the sky was a deep blue and the trees around were a vivid emerald. Clouds floated motionless in the sky. It was like walking into a picture of the perfect day.

However, Lavi quickly noticed that they were not alone. Sitting perfectly still, balanced on the edge of the roof, was Kanda. He was looking out towards the sea, at the horizon. He hadn't seemed to notice them. Lenalee called out to him.

"Kanda!"

As he turned towards them, he seemed…surprised. But quick as a flash the emotion was gone, in its place was his usual grim façade.

"What is it?" he asked, irritably.

Lavi couldn't help but notice that Kanda seemed…off, somehow. Not in that he was annoyed, that was completely normal, but there was a kind of underlying calmness that Lavi had never seen in him before. For once, Kanda seemed to be acting the way he was for a reason, rather than being pointlessly annoyed all the time. Lenalee hadn't seemed to notice this though, and started talking straight away.

"We wanted to talk to you about Allen."

"Why? What's he done now?"

This caused her to pause, and Lavi himself quite suddenly realised that Kanda, having been absent from Lvellie's declaration, would know nothing of what had recently occurred. He had also studied Kanda's face when Allen was mentioned and if he wasn't mistaken, he had detected a flash of concern. Like the surprise earlier, it was there and gone in a millisecond, but Lavi had seen it. He thought Lenalee might have seen it too, and he would ask her about it later. But the real question was why Kanda seemed so different all is a sudden.

"Wait, you mean you haven't heard?" said Lenalee, perplexed.

"Obviously not, since I just asked you."

Well at least his surliness was familiar. Lenalee looked at Lavi for support. He supposed that now was as good a time as any to explain what had happened.

"The Ark's disappeared, Hevlaska's dead and Central suspect Allen of killing her. Also he's probably a Noah."

Kanda looked at Lavi with a mixture of confusion and anger and Lenalee glared at him. He had to suppress a laugh. "What?"

"Perhaps you could explain in more detail?" she prompted.

Lavi sighed. "About an hour ago, there was horrendous noise coming from the Science Section, so everyone rushed in thinking it was Akuma. It wasn't, it was the Ark door closing. Of course, Allen controls the doors, so everyone was wondering what happened to him. Then Lvellie walks in and says, essentially, that not only is Hevlaska dead, but that he and by extension, Central, thinks Allen did it."

Kanda didn't seem to understand anymore than he did the first time, and, if anything, looked even more confused.

"Why?"

"His shoe buckle was at the scene of the crime."

"What."

Lavi admitted to himself that that wasn't really an answer, but irritating Kanda was more or less a force of habit, and besides, his reaction was definitely worth it. Lenalee seemed to think so too, because she'd had to put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

"We'll get to that later. Anyway, this is obviously strange so I ask what proof they have, at which point the shoe buckle turns up. I was about to say that that was ridiculous but he continued anyway, and said that since Allen had recently been unveiled as the host of a Noah, even if he was innocent of murdering Hevlaska, he was no longer welcome at the Order. Not only was he unwelcome, but Lvellie wants him hunted down and killed. That's about it I think?" he said, glancing over at Lenalee who seemed satisfied with this answer. Kanda did not.

"Shoe buckle? What do you mean shoe buckle? What's that got to do with murder?"

An excellent question if ever there was one, but Kanda was saved a sarcastic response as Lenalee decided to take the lead.

"That's more or less what we were wondering. Apparently Lvellie found Allen's shoe buckle in Hevlaska's Chamber, which he views as damning evidence that Allen was there, and therefore killed Hevlaska." she said.

"But…it's a shoe buckle. It could belong to anyone."

Apparently Kanda's powers of deduction were still intact, which would doubtless help them if anything exceedingly obvious needed to be said.

"Exactly, which is part of why we think Central is trying to cover up her murder by blaming Allen for it."

"Why don't they just capture Allen then? It's not like he's gone anywhere."

Oh yeah, he should probably have mentioned that, given that was why they'd come to him in the first place. He and Lenalee exchanged looks.

"That's where you would be wrong." he said, in a slightly pained voice. "Since Lenalee saw him, about an hour before the Ark door closed, he seems to have vanished off the face of the earth."

"Then we should find him, and demand an explanation." said Kanda, rising to his feet.

"Well actually Kanda, we searched almost the entire building looking for you, and we still didn't see Allen anywhere." said Lenalee.

"Then we ask around, and see if anyone else saw him." growled Kanda, clearly becoming impatient. He seemed very focused on finding Allen. Could it be linked to the flash of concern Lavi had seen earlier? Once again though, Lenalee seemed to have an idea.

"There are a lot of people outside the Science Section right now, we should head there first." she said. Well, it was sound in theory, but he doubted that anyone hanging around outside the Science Section would willingly talk about Allen, given what was happening inside it that very moment. In fact, they may even have to go in themselves, but that was really more of a last resort. Still, it was their best option for now.

"Agreed." he said, and they set off for the Science Section once more.

As they found themselves outside the Science Section for the fourth time that day, it became apparent that the fight in the room itself wasn't going to settle down any time soon.

"What the hell's going on in there?" grumbled Kanda, having to raise his voice over the din. They really would have to have a more in depth talk later.

"An argument that doesn't involve you! That has to be a first right?" teased Lavi, getting swiped at for his trouble. There hadn't been anymore uncharacteristic flashes of emotion from Kanda, but Lavi was keeping a close eye on him, trying to work out what had changed.

"Come on you two, Crowley and Miranda are still over there."

They made their way over to the pair, who seemed a bit relieved to see them. It was obvious that they both had business in the Science Section, but neither could seem to gather the courage to go in.

"So you found Kanda, then?" said Crowley. Kanda snorted angrily in response.

"It would seem so." said Lenalee, in a slightly exasperated tone.

"Alas, our search continues." said Lavi, with a comedically overwrought voice. "We must once again ask you for guidance."

"And who is it you're looking for?"

"Allen, naturally."

Crowley gave him a strange look, clearly wondering if he'd lost his marbles. Miranda, meanwhile, looked more nervous than ever, glancing around the room to see if anyone was listening.

"But Allen's gone missing."

It seemed Crowley and Kanda's powers of deduction were about equal.

"We know that, we just wondered if either of you saw him today before the Ark door closed." said Lenalee.

Miranda had become very anxious. While before she had merely seemed slightly paranoid, now she was almost shaking.

"Are you okay, Miranda?" asked Lavi. He couldn't help but wonder if she'd seen something she shouldn't have. While she was prone to fits of self-loathing, she had been gradually improving, besides, now she seemed more scared than anything else.

"I saw him. Allen, I mean." she whispered, clearly afraid of being overheard. That might explain some of her nervousness, but still, she seemed disproportionately anxious.

"Really? When?"

"Not in here, there are too many people."

Lavi definitely agreed with her on that, they didn't want half the Order searching for Allen. Crowley seemed reluctant to come with them though.

"We'll go outside. Crowley, are you coming?"

"No, I need to head back in there, actually." he said, gesturing towards the door to the Science Section. As Lavi had suspected, he had business in there and seemed to have finally mustered up the courage to go in.

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

Lavi watched as Crowley made his way dejectedly towards the door and couldn't help but feel a stab of sympathy. Still, work was work, he supposed.

By the time they made it outside, it was still a lovely day, but grey clouds were gathering in the distance. There was going to be another storm tonight.

Leaving the building had made Miranda perk up a bit, Lavi suspected she was afraid of Central spying on them. At any rate, she was now more willing to talk.

"I didn't want to mention it in there, I was worried Central might take me in for questioning." apparently Lavi's assumption was correct. "But I saw Allen earlier today. But the strange thing was, I feel like I shouldn't have seen him."

That was odd, what could Allen have been doing to make Miranda so nervous about talking about him?

"Why do you think that?" he asked.

She took a steadying breath and continued. "Well, he climbed out of a window you see."

What.

"What."

Miranda looked sheepish. "Yes, you see that window there?" she said, pointing to a tall rectangular window on the third floor. "It was about an hour before I rushed over to the Science Section with everyone else. I was out here trying to practice with my Innocence. The Training Room was full you see, and I didn't want to bother anyone." Lavi could tell she felt uncomfortable revealing this, but appreciated her effort. "I was in the midst of holding my shield in place, when I noticed someone climbing out of that window. I was going to call out to them, afraid they would fall, but then I realised it was Allen. After that, my throat just went dry all of a sudden, I couldn't call out to him. It was almost like I was frozen in place… Anyway, I watched him climb down the wall, he seemed to do it almost effortlessly, like a professional. Once he was on the ground he went around the building, but eventually came back into my view." She paused here, clearly worried about something.

"What is it?" asked Lenalee, putting a hand on Miranda's shoulder. She seemed to take comfort from this and continued.

"I just- I'm not sure what to think. He broke open the window."

That was definitely weird.

"What, did he smash it or something?" asked Kanda, who had been strangely silent until then.

"No no, I think he used a lockpick? It was difficult to see because I was so far away. Anyway, he went in, closing the window behind him. It was that one over there." she pointed to a small square window on the ground floor.

"Why do you suppose Allen felt he needed to break in through the window rather than just going through the door?" Lavi wondered aloud.

"That's what I've been asking myself all day." said Miranda, who was relieved he shared her view. "It almost seemed like he was afraid of getting caught. He kept looking around, as though he thought someone was following him. He didn't see me though, I was a bit further back than here, in the forest, so he couldn't spot me."

Lavi thought hard about this. First Lenalee mentioned Allen's strange behaviour, and from what Lavi could judge, Allen seemed as though he had been in shock. Then after that, rather than going to his room like he said he would, he had apparently climbed out of a window and broken into a room on the ground floor, all the while scared of being seen. What on earth had happened him? There was only one real way to find out.

"I propose we go through the window, and see where Allen went." he said.

"I'll stand outside." said Kanda. "Tell people the room's got dangerous substances in it."

Lavi couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly at this, Kanda wasn't usually one to willingly stand outside and do nothing while others did the work for him. It would be good to have a guard on the door though…

"Okay, everyone else will investigate the room then."

Fortunately Allen hadn't bothered to lock the window after him, so they managed to enter with relative ease. Kanda took up his position outside, and the three of them started looking around for an indication of where Allen had gone. At first it seemed futile, although everything else in the room was covered in dust, the floor wasn't, so there were no footprints to indicate where Allen had gone next. But after about five minutes of searching Lavi walked over to a bookshelf in the corner of the room and quickly found that a significant amount of dust had been dislodged from it recently. Then looking down, he saw something even more incriminating, a piece of paper was stuck underneath it.

He bent down to try and pick it up, but it seemed to be well and truly wedged under the shelf. Obviously the only solution would be to try and move the shelf with brute force.

"Hey, Lenalee, Miranda, think you could help me try to shift this bookshelf?"

"Why? Do you think Allen disappeared behind it?" asked Lenalee, walking over to him.

"Maybe. Look at how clean it is, barely a dust particle on it." he said, gesturing at it.

"Hmm, you have a point there." she said, looking it over. She then placed her hands on the side of the shelf and pushed as hard as she could. He and Miranda joined her, but even with all their strength combined, the shelf wouldn't move an inch. After spending a minute or so trying to move it from several different angles to no avail, Kanda shouted through at them.

"Just smash it!"

Well, it was an idea to be sure. But was it a good idea? Lenalee seemed to think so, because she activated her Innocence.

"Lenalee! Are you sure that's okay?" said Miranda, who was eyeing her boots nervously.

"We don't really have much of a choice, do we? There's no way we can move it."

"Let's remove the books before smashing the bookshelf to bits, please." said Lavi, who had already started pulling them off their shelves. Fortunately they didn't seem to be in any kind of order, so there was no need to organise them as they were removed. When the bookshelf was empty, Lenalee prepared to smash it. She stood at the other end of the room, ran up to it, then gave it a powerful kick with her Dark Boots. It cracked and collapsed in front of them with a loud crash.

"Did it work?" Kanda shouted through.

Before them was a dark corridor. A torch had been removed from its bracket.

In Raasura's Room

Allen was shrouded in darkness. He knew he had fallen asleep, but he didn't seem to be in his dreamscape. He was in some kind of room, white tiles under his feet, but in every other direction there was just empty blackness. It reminded him of the Ark's many corridors, but at the same time, it was distinctly different. He started walking. In the distance there was a light, and as he walked it grew nearer and nearer, until he could make out a platform. On it was some sparse furniture: two chairs, a table, a full length mirror and what looked like a water basin. Just as he began to draw near it however, he felt a great pain in the back of his head. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his head in his hands. He saw the ground rushing up to meet him.

Then he woke up.

He felt a pain in his back. He was lying on a boulder. That's right, they were in Raasura's room. They were looking for Soul Fragments. He saw Nea's ghostly form lying across from him. So disembodied souls needed sleep too. That was kind of weird. He looked around the room for a bit, not wanting to wake Nea. Then he noticed something. One of the buckles on his boots was missing, not only that, but the boots themselves were smeared with blood. Hevlaska's blood. He hadn't had time to notice when it was happening, but when Hevlaska had wrapped her tentacles around him, she must have accidentally pulled off one of his buckles, covering his boots in blood during the process. He was going to need a change of clothes soon. Not only was he instantly recognisable in his exorcist uniform, but he would also look very suspicious if he went around with blood all over him.

That was a problem for later though, for now his mind wandered back to what Hevlaska had said to him.

"Trust no one but yourself, my child. Even your mind is at war now."

What on earth had she meant by that? Was she referring to Nea's presence? Or something else entirely? Either way it was troubling. It was just then something hit him. The bookshelf. The one he had moved with sorcery to get to Hevlaska. It had been a memory holder. And what was worse, he had accidentally fulfilled the conditions to release the Soul Fragment within. He hadn't seen a piece of paper after he performed the spell though, was it possible he needed to activate his eye to release the Soul Fragment? What if he had though? The paper would be trapped in the Order, and he now had no realistic way of reaching it.

As much as he was loathe to do it, he had to wake up Nea. He walked over to him and gently shook him by the shoulder.

"Nea, wake up."

Nea seemed groggy and unable to fully wake up.

"What's wrong?" his words were slurred.

"I left a Soul Fragment at the Order." said Allen, with a touch of desperation. That seemed to wake Nea up a bit.

"You what? When? How?" he asked, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"The bookshelf, remember? I had a vision and you couldn't see it properly, so I had to explain it to you."

"I remember." he said, scowling, more to himself than at Allen though.

"What are we going to do?"

Nea looked up at Allen blearily. "We don't have to do anything. There are probably lots of Soul Fragments at the Order. We can get it when we go to get those. You'll need to work on your time powers of course, but that's hardly important right now."

"Are you sure? What if someone finds it before us?"

Nea shrugged. "Even if they did, it would just be a blank sheet of paper, there's no reason for them to bother with it. Only you can see whether or not something is a Soul Fragment."

"I see."

Well, that was some good news, at least. It put him at an advantage to anyone else trying to look for the Soul Fragments, and meant they probably wouldn't be stolen from him if he was caught. Nea seemed to be waking up properly now. Allen watched him rise slowly to his feet.

"Think you're ready to find another Soul Fragment?" he asked, peering at Allen.

"I feel much better now, so I should say so." Allen replied, activating his eye pre-emptively.

"Good." mumbled Nea, who looked more ghostly than ever with Allen's black and white vision. Allen could see over near the door on the other side of the room, something was glowing with a familiar blue light. He started walking over to it, Nea trailing behind him. As he got closer, he wondered what the memory holder would be. He couldn't remember anything being in Raasura's room other than rocks and Raasura's himself. Then he reached the light and inhaled deeply. It was a pile of dust. Raasura's remains. He had to force himself to step forward and look at them more closely. The more he looked, the more puzzled (and nauseated) he became.

"Hey Nea, I know that Kanda stabbed Raasura to death, but all that's left is this pile of dust. How will I-" he cut himself off abruptly. Something was wrong. His eye had turned itself off, which would indicate that a memory had begun to play, but instead the room had gone dark. Nea was gone.

"Hello?"

There was no reply. But then he realised that he wasn't quite alone in the room, there was someone standing up ahead. He couldn't make out who it was. Suddenly the room was blindingly bright and horribly loud. There was an explosion of some kind. Allen's ears started ringing. Something huge and yellow went crashing by him. It was Skinn Bolic, which meant that-

Just as he was about to finish his train of thought, Kanda ran straight through him, sword first, then started trying to cut at Skinn. Before he had time to process any of this, he found himself back in the dark, almost empty version of Raasura's room. Someone still stood ahead of him, looking away, into the distance. Then Kanda and Skinn were back, Kanda was in a bad way, Skinn was going to land the final blow – no. The darkened room. Someone was approaching behind him. Kanda lifted his sword and brought it down, slicing Skinn in two. Everything was quiet. The room was dark.

Allen could finally see the person who was standing in front of him. A young woman, wearing a long, white dress. Her face was turned away, but Allen could see her dark grey skin. She was another Noah, but he had never seen her before. She took a deep breath, then spoke.

"Make it quick, will you."

Was she talking to him? No, this was a memory. Sure enough, someone else stepped out of the darkness beside him. It was Nea. But he was different. He looked older than in the last memory, his expression was one of pain and anger, in complete contrast to his usual snarky persona. His clothes were torn and blood was streaming down his face. He looked exhausted. He scowled at her. What happened to him?

"Aren't you going to fight?" he asked. His voice crackled as he spoke and it was obvious he was in a lot of pain. "Aren't you going to tell me to stop?"

Stop doing what? What was going on?

She looked at the ground and sighed. "What's the use? You were lost to all of us a long time ago."

To who? The other Noah perhaps?

"That's it? You have nothing left to say? Just that it's pointless?" he snarled, almost indignantly.

Something about this was familiar, the blood on Nea's face...his anger. It was pulling at a memory buried deep in his mind, but he couldn't quite reach it.

At this point she turned to face him. She was in her late twenties and would have been beautiful, if she hadn't looked so utterly defeated. "What do you want me to say?" her voice was low and cold. "That I failed? To admit that you were smarter, that you fooled us all? That I was wrong? What do you want?"

He he could remember this woman, he knew it. But she was so different...what was going on?

Nea just stared at her.

"You know what. I'll say it. I failed. I, Toraido, Judge of the Noah, have failed. Are you happy now?" she was practically spitting the words, like they were poison in her mouth.

So that's who she was. Allen hadn't met her before, which was probably why she seemed so unfamiliar. But what had she failed at doing? Then a voice seemed to whisper in his head. The answer appeared before him. Betrayal. Where had it come from?

Silence.

"Why did you come here?" asked Nea, quietly. She stared at him for a moment, then she gathered herself and spoke.

"This is where you killed my sister. I feel it's appropriate for you to kill me in the same place. It was her favourite room, after all."

Killed? Nea killed everyone. He knew that. He had always known that. So why...?

Nea nodded. Another moment passed.

"I'm ready, you know. Just do it. There's no point in delaying any longer." she closed her eyes and stood perfectly still. Nea looked at the sky and breathed in deeply. It was clear he was trying to stop himself from crying. He walked over to her. It felt like an eternity until he reached her. He placed his hands on either side of her head, and just like that, she melted into dust between his fingers. Nea looked at the pile of dust in front of him, took a deep breath, and left the room.

Hey guys! Super long chapter this week, which I suppose is appropriate considering it's number fourteen after all! Anyway, thanks to everyone who keeps on reading, I hope you enjoy this new chapter!